Italy for the Gourmet Travel 5th ed. Paperback – April 7, 2014

If you love Italy and you love food and wine, this is a must-read. Plotkin has had the great fortune of spending a good part of his life in that amazing and perplexing country. This is an insider's view that's beautifully written and very detailed. It's not your usual travel guide by any means (and is much too heavy to take with you on your trip). It's your guide to understanding food and wine traditions so that you can fully appreciate them when you travel in Italy. I love this book. However, I have to chime in with other reviewers here who have commented about how the book has not been properly updated from version to version. For instance, the latest edition has a section about how smoking is no longer allowed in restaurants and bars in Italy, but that section ends with an outdated paragraph about how smoking is legal and how you can avoid it. That's inattentive editing. Even before I got to that point, I started to question whether the book had been thoroughly updated. When Plotkin refers to, say, "in recent years, ....," is he referring to years prior to the book's first publication in 1996 or to 2014, the date of the latest edition? That is the book's flaw, and hopefully this problem will be corrected whenever a new edition comes out. But, knowing that, don't let it stop you from reading this book. It's a minor flaw considering the knowledge you'll gain. Plotkin knows and loves Italy, and if you are interested in fully exploring the areas you visit, this book will help you in ways that no other book can.

This guide draws on Plotkin’s decades of experience of eating across Italy. It’s not a list of expensive restaurants, in fact the restaurant listings are secondary to its main purpose, showing the visitor how and what Italians eat. The introduction should be read by every visitor to Italy and is worth the price of admission.And there are sections highlighting each region’s unique offerings. The listing of specific restaurants and food shops is helpful, although far from perfect (most of these are small, old-school places with good food, but perhaps without a large internet presence).In order not to bring the book along on trips it’s best to copy the key pages from certain regions and familiarize yourself with particular terms. This is the only Italian guide you MUST buy.

I field-tested this guide on a trip to the Naples area within a couple of weeks of the publication of the new fifth edition in 2014. Fred Plotkin knows a lot about his subject -- I was able instantly to find out what bottarga is when I was offered it in a dish (and very tasty it was) -- and he directed us to a couple of restaurants where we ate well. But I must agree with other reviewers that the fact-checking and updating of the book have not been well-done. I wanted to buy items at four of the five food stores that the book listed in Capri. One had gone out of business (Capri Natura), while another (Sfizi di Pane) was not at the address quoted in the book (though by sheer chance we later found it at a different address nearby, which incidentally did not have the look of a recent move -- I had the impression the address given in the book might well have been wrong in the first place). The third (Scialapopulo) was a nice little restaurant rather than the grocery store catering to picnics that Plotkin's description had led us to expect. Only one out of the four (Limoncello di Capri) was as described in the book. Sorry Fred, but you need to get out there and work seriously at fact-checking and updating on the ground if you want to market this as a practical up-to-date guide for travelers.

Incredible detail and interesting. Great to read before your trip, especially if you are visiting many different regions of Italy.

Needs to be in kindle, can't haul that huge book around italy.

I was interested to see how accurate this book is. I would say about 80% based on the regions I know intimately. There are aspects I would add. Nonetheless, I recommend this without hesitation because Italy is complex. Once the reader understands that each village is unique in all things, then this book is useful.

Only having read the introduction, it's hard to comment, but so far, I'm very impressed by Plotkin's historical narrative and specific advice. The paperback is VERY heavy (about 1,000 pages!), but looks well worth it. I look forward to reading it while planning my trip.

I was very disappointed by this book, a brick, austere, discouraging, such a heavy book to read, small, too light print. I had bought this as a birthday gift for a friend who loves Italy, its COLOUR, its food. I knew my friend would never bother to read something with such academic, austere presentation.I printed a return slip but when I got to post office I was quoted $24.00 postage! Package weighs over 3rd lbs. and I would only be reimbursed $16 or $17, don't quite remember.So my loss...it will just gather dust o my shelves.